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F. Hirsch



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    G01 - Progress in Lung Cancer: Celebrating 40 Years of IASLC and Research Progress (ID 14)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Other Sessions
    • Track: Other Topics
    • Presentations: 1
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      G01.3 - Biology and Pathology (ID 3858)

      17:30 - 18:30  |  Author(s): F. Hirsch

      • Abstract
      • Slides

      Abstract not provided

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    MO05 - Prognostic and Predictive Biomarkers II (ID 95)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Mini Oral Abstract Session
    • Track: Medical Oncology
    • Presentations: 1
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      MO05.02 - Overexpression of FGFR1 mRNA and protein are more frequent than FGFR1 gene amplification in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients (ID 2459)

      16:15 - 17:45  |  Author(s): F. Hirsch

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Background
      Somatic mutations and gene fusions have been identified as oncogenic drivers in lung cancer, however, a number of lung cancers have no apparent molecular aberration driving oncogenesis. It appears that gene/protein overexpression may sustain these “pan-negative” cancers. Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) and their receptors (FGFRs) regulate cell proliferation, differentiation, migration and survival and dysregulation of this signaling pathway is observed in a proportion of lung cancers. A number of compounds targeting FGF/FGFR are in clinical development but clinically applicable biomarker assays and companion diagnostics that accurately identify patients with tumors sensitive to these agents are needed. We previously presented cell line data demonstrating that FGFR1 mRNA (ME) or protein expression (PE) better identified FGFR1 inhibitor sensitive tumors compared to gene copy number (GCN). The goal of this study was to examine FGFR1 ME, PE and GCN in a surgically treated NSCLC clinical cohort and explore possible associations with clinical features and prognosis.

      Methods
      Immunohistochemistry, brightfield in situ hybridization, and silver in situ hybridization were used to investigate ME, PE and GCN, respectively, in a cohort of 189 NSCLC surgically-treated patients. PE was scored by the H-score method (0-300) and ME on a semiquantative integer scale (0-4+), both evaluating the entire tumor specimen. GCN was scored on continuous scale by counting the individual signals in 50 cells and determining the average GCN per tumor cell.

      Results
      Amplification (GCN >=4) was present in 8% of the entire cohort and in 11% of the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) or mixed histology subgroup. No amplifications were found in the adenocarcinomas (ADC) or tumors from never smokers. In contrast, 29% of SCC and ADC patients had high ME (= 4+). Elevated PE (>= 100) was observed in 20% of the cohort, with the highest expression observed in SCC/mixed histology, but 6% of ADCs also showed elevated PE. There was no elevated FGFR1 PE in the never smokers. There was significant correlation but incomplete overlap between biomarkers. There were no prognostic associations, either with overall or disease-free survival, for FGFR1 GCN, ME, or PE. There was excellent inter-observer agreement among the readers of all 3 biomarker assays.

      Conclusion
      Overexpression of FGFR1 mRNA and protein are more frequent than FGFR1 gene amplification in NSCLC patients. Although GCN amplification was restricted to SCC, elevated ME and PE were found in both ADC and SCC. There was no prognostic association with FGFR1 GCN, ME, or PE. These data are consistent with our previous cell line data that showed elevated PE and ME in non-amplified cells and suggests that GCN may not identify all the potential patients who could benefit from FGF/FGFR pathway inhibitors.

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    MO18 - NSCLC - Targeted Therapies IV (ID 116)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Mini Oral Abstract Session
    • Track: Medical Oncology
    • Presentations: 1
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      MO18.08 - Phase II/III Biomarker-Driven Master Protocol for Second Line Therapy of Squamous Cell Lung Cancer (SCCA). (ID 1958)

      16:15 - 17:45  |  Author(s): F. Hirsch

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Background
      There are few new effective therapeutic options for patients with advanced, lung SCCA; overall survival for metastatic disease being less than one year. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) project and similar studies have detected a significant number of somatic gene mutations/amplifications in patients with this disease, some of which are targetable by investigational agents. However, the frequency of these changes is low (5-20%) in these patients, making recruitment and treatment very challenging in the traditional single-agent trial setting. Our approach is to use a common platform (Next Generation DNA Sequencing) to enable a single “umbrella screening protocol” to efficiently find patients with varied, uncommon molecular changes.

      Methods
      Figure 1 This is a prospective, multi-substudy randomized Phase II/III Master Registration Protocol in which patients with advanced stage Lung SCCA (2[nd] line therapy)are randomized to biomarker-driven targeted therapy (TT) or standard of care (SOC) as shown in the schema after undergoing genomic screening. Genomic screening of a large patient resource provided by sites participating in the NCI North American Intergroup will identify molecular targets/biomarkers with an analytically validated diagnostic assay and a new drug match, leading to appropriate drug treatment-arm assignment. Archival FFPE tumor and/or core needle biopsies will be screened by a broad analytically validated next generation sequencing (NGS) platform centrally to establish eligibility within 10-14 days. This platform will be supplemented by individual immune-histochemical (IHC) protein assays performed in a CLIA setting as necessitated by the specific experimental agent used. Patients will be screened with homogeneous eligibility criteria. The overall trial objective is to establish a mechanism to genomically screen large but homogeneous cancer populations and subsequently assign and accrue simultaneously to multiple substudies comparing new TT to SOC therapy based on the identified therapeutic biomarker-drug combination. Each sub-study will function autonomously and will open and close independently of the other sub-studies. Drug combinations in the experimental arm will be allowed in appropriate settings and where appropriate the control arm may consist of FDA approved targeted therapy such as erlotinib. Each sub-study is independently powered for OS with an interim analysis for PFS to determine the “go-no go” decision to proceed from Phase II into Phase III. Each agent, along with the paired biomarker, that is successful at the interim analysis based on PFS will advance to a Phase III randomized registration trial (on behalf of the Master Protocol Steering Committee).

      Results
      NA

      Conclusion
      NA

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    O01 - Prognostic and Predictive Biomarkers I (ID 94)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Oral Abstract Session
    • Track: Medical Oncology
    • Presentations: 1
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      O01.07 - Randomized Proteomic Stratified Phase III Study of Second Line Erlotinib (E) versus Chemotherapy (CT) in Patients with Inoperable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (PROSE): Secondary Endpoint Analysis (ID 3276)

      10:30 - 12:00  |  Author(s): F. Hirsch

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Background
      EGFR-TKis are more effective in NSCLC patients with EGFR activating mutations. However, about 90% of non-Asian patients are EGFR wild type, and a test for optimizing treatment in pts with wild-type or in patients with undetectable EGFR mutation status or squamous histology is of clinical value. VeriStrat (VS) is a serum protein test that assigns "good" (VSG) or "poor" (VSP) classification and has demonstrated prognostic and predictive utility in retrospective studies. PROSE is the first completed multicenter prospective randomized biomarker validation trial, designed to evaluate the ability of VS to predict survival in 2[nd]- line NSCLC pts treated with E or CT. As reported at 2013 ASCO[1], VSG pts derived similar overall survival (OS) benefit from both agents (hazard ratio (HR) for E=1.06; p=0.71) whereas CT was the superior option for VSP pts (HR for E=1.72; p=0.02). PROSE met its primary endpoint of demonstrating significant treatment*VS interaction with a p-value of 0.031. The present report discusses the results for the secondary endpoints, PFS.

      Methods
      285 pts, stratified by ECOG-PS, smoking, and blinded pre-treatment VS classification, were randomized 1:1 to receive E or CT at standard doses. Primary endpoint was overall survival (OS) and the primary hypothesis was a significant interaction between VS status and treatment. Sample size was calculated based on an estimated 65%/35% VSG:VSP ratio and hazard ratio (HR) for interaction of 2.35, with a 2-sided α=0.05 and 90% power.

      Results
      263 pts (129 CT, 134 E) were included in the per protocol primary analysis. 68% of pts in CT arm and 72% in E arm were classified as VSG, and analysis was performed at 226 survival events.VSP classification was significantly correlated with worse PFS as compared to VSG, in overall comparison (HR=1.75, 95%CI: 1.34-2.95, P <0.001) , in the CT (HR = 1.69, 95%CI: 1.15-2.48, P <0.007) and the E (HR = 1.91, 95%CI: 1.340-2.80, P<0.001) arms, demonstrating its prognostic value also in PFS. In VSG median PFS was 4.8 months (m) on CT, and 2.5 m on E (HR = 1.26, 95% CI: 0.94-1.69, P =0.129); in VSP median PFS was 2.8 m on CT and 1.7 m on E (HR=1.51, 95% CI: 0.96-2.38, P =0.078). No statistical significant interaction was detected (p=0.44)

      Conclusion
      The analysis of PFS and OS indicates that the differential treatment benefit in OS related to VS classification is determined by the combination of prognostic and predictive properties of the test.

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    O04 - Molecular Pathology I (ID 126)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Oral Abstract Session
    • Track: Pathology
    • Presentations: 1
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      O04.06 - An international standardization study using the ALK IHC antibody D5F3 and a sensitive detection kit demonstrates high concordance between ALK IHC and ALK FISH and between evaluators (ID 2875)

      10:30 - 12:00  |  Author(s): F. Hirsch

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Background
      The goal of personalized medicine is treating patients with a therapy predicted to be efficacious based on the molecular characteristics of the tumor, thereby sparing the patient futile or detrimental therapy. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitors are effective against ALK positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumors, but to date the only US Food and Drug Administration approved companion diagnostic is a break-apart fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a clinically applicable cost-effective test that is sensitive and specific for ALK protein expression. The purpose of this study was to assemble an international team of expert pathologists to evaluate and standardize the interpretation of a new automated standardized ALK IHC assay.

      Methods
      Archival NSCLC tumor specimens (n=103) previously tested for ALK rearrangement by FISH were provided by the international collaborators. These specimens were stained by IHC with the anti-ALK (D5F3) primary antibody (Ventana Medical Systems, Inc) combined with OptiView DAB IHC detection and OptiView amplification (Ventana Medical Systems, Inc). The evaluators went through an interpretation training session and scored the specimens as positive, if strong granular cytoplasmic brown staining was present in tumor cells, or negative. IHC results were compared to the FISH results and inter-evaluator agreement comparisons made.

      Results
      Overall for the 100 evaluable cases the ALK IHC assay was highly sensitive (90%), specific (95%) and accurate (93%) relative to the ALK FISH results. Similar results were observed using a majority score. For the discrepant cases IHC negativity was scored by 7/7 on 3 FISH positive cases and 6/7 evaluators on 2 additional FISH positive cases. IHC positivity was scored on 2 FISH negative cases by 7/7 readers. There was agreement among 7/7 and 6/7 readers on 88% and 96%% of the cases before a consensus review, respectively, and following a review there was agreement among 7/7 and 6/7 on 95% and 97% of the cases, respectively.

      Conclusion
      Based on expert evaluation the ALK IHC assay using the D5F3 antibody combined with Optiview Detction and Optiview amplification is sensitive, specific and accurate, relative to FISH, and a majority score of multiple readers does not improve these results over an individual reader’s score. Excellent inter-reader agreement was observed for the IHC assay. These data support the algorithmic use of ALK IHC as a screening procedure for ALK protein expression in NSCLC.

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    P1.06 - Poster Session 1 - Prognostic and Predictive Biomarkers (ID 161)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Poster Session
    • Track: Biology
    • Presentations: 1
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      P1.06-004 - ROS1 Immunohistochemistry Among Major Genotypes of Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma (ID 739)

      09:30 - 16:30  |  Author(s): F. Hirsch

      • Abstract

      Background
      ROS1 (c-ros oncogene 1) is a receptor tyrosine kinase that can become constitutively active and drive cellular proliferation in a variety of cancers. Approximately 1-2% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harbor activating ROS1 gene fusions and these patients may benefit from ROS1-targeted inhibitor therapy.

      Methods
      Immunohistochemistry for ROS1 expression was performed on 33 NSCLC specimens previously characterized for the presence of genetic abnormalities. These specimens were selected for ROS1 gene rearrangements (6 specimens) detected by RT-PCR and FISH, ALK gene rearrangements (5 specimens), EGFR mutations (5 specimens), KRAS mutations (5 specimens), HER2 mutations (3 specimens), RET gene rearrangements (3 specimens), and pan-negative (6 specimens). Immunohistochemistry was performed in a CLIA-certified laboratory with manual application of the ROS1 DFD6 antibody (Cell Signaling Technology, Inc) for 1 hour. ROS1 protein expression was evaluated by a pathologist with a hybrid (H)-score scale of 0 (no expression in any tumor cells) to 300 (intense expression in all tumor cells). ROS1 over-expression was defined as an H-score greater than 100.

      Results
      ROS1 protein over-expression was detected by immunohistochemistry in all 6 of the NSCLC specimens with ROS1 gene fusions detected by RT-PCR (example in figure below). None of the remaining 27 lung cancer specimens with ALK gene rearrangements, EGFR mutations, KRAS mutations, HER2 mutations, RET gene rearrangements, or pan-negative exhibited ROS1 protein over-expression. Figure 1

      Conclusion
      Detection of ROS1 over-expression by immunohistochemistry exhibited 100% concordance with results of ROS1 gene rearrangement for 33 NSCLC specimens and did not overlap with any of the other genetic alterations. Six specimens were positive for ROS1 gene rearrangement by both RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. Tumors positive for genetic alterations associated with the ALK, EGFR, KRAS, HER2, and RET genes were all negative for ROS1 gene rearrangement and ROS1 immunohistochemistry. ROS1 immunohistochemistry is a sensitive, specific and cost-effective method for identification of a subset of patients with lung cancer that may benefit from ROS-1 targeted-therapy.

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    P3.18 - Poster Session 3 - Pathology (ID 177)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Poster Session
    • Track: Pathology
    • Presentations: 1
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      P3.18-012 - The hidden 50% of the ALK positive NSCLC patients (ID 2469)

      09:30 - 16:30  |  Author(s): F. Hirsch

      • Abstract

      Background
      Patients with lung adenocarcinoma carrying the ALK gene rearrangement show dramatic response to ALK TKIs (e.g. crizotinib). The currently approved method for detection of ALK gene rearrangements is fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), however gene sequencing can also be used for detecting ALK rearrangement. Aberrant ALK protein expression, as ALK is not normally expressed in the lung, can be detected with immunohistochemistry (IHC). Our experience has shown a high rate of false negative ALK FISH patients, therefore we retrospectively investigated 53 cases with IHC and Next Generation Sequence (NGS).

      Methods
      53 patients with NSCLC adenocarcinoma were tested for ALK rearrangement by FISH (Oncotest-TEVA Ltd, Israel). Retrospective IHC (D5F3 antibody, Cell Signaling) was done at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. Discordance cases were sequenced by "FoundationOne” (Foundation Medicine Inc).

      Results
      Out of the 53 cases, 4 (7.5%) were FISH positive, and 8 (15%) were IHC positive with 3 cases both FISH+ and IHC+ (Figure 1 , Table 1). One specimen was FISH+ and IHC-. NGS was performed on the 5 IHC+/FISH- mismatched samples and found 4 out of the 5 cases positive for ALK rearrangement. The true positive incidence of ALK rearrangement in our cohort increased by 100%, from 7.5% to 15%. Interestingly, two patients were found to harbor a unique ALK rearrangement at intron 19. One of them showed a dramatically improvement to crizotinib (PFS=18 months).

      FISH IHC Patients NGS ALK rearrangement +
      + + 3 3
      - - 44 0*
      + - 1(1.8%) 0
      - + 5(9.4%) 4 4
      Total 53 4 7
      Table 1 - FISH and IHC summary Figure 1

      Conclusion
      The current FISH based approach to detect ALK gene rearrangement misses numerous (50%) patients who might benefit from the most efficient lung cancer therapy for their disease. Screening for ALK protein expression by IHC may identify ALK positive patients that would otherwise be missed. Borderline IHC staining should be further sequenced by NGS to cover other abnormalities such as intron19 or other uncommon rearrangements.

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    PC02 - EGFR as a Target in Early Stage Disease (ID 71)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Pro/Con Session
    • Track: Medical Oncology
    • Presentations: 1
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      PC02.1 - Introduction: Detection of EGFR Mutations (ID 628)

      14:00 - 15:30  |  Author(s): F. Hirsch

      • Abstract
      • Presentation
      • Slides

      Abstract not provided

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    PL01 - Opening Plenary (ID 72)

    • Event: WCLC 2013
    • Type: Plenary Session
    • Track: Prevention & Epidemiology
    • Presentations: 1
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      PL01.01 - 40 Years IASLC (ID 4032)

      18:45 - 20:15  |  Author(s): F. Hirsch

      • Abstract
      • Slides

      Abstract not provided

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